Robert Pesut, famous like Magnificent, is a Slovenian musician whose career began in the group U'redu, with whom he recorded his first album "Goli" (1990). He later continued as a soloist and recorded six albums in 12 years. Many of his songs became Slovenian hits, such as "Silvija" (EMA 1998), "Kdo je čefur", "24.000 poljubov", and the hit "Hir aj kam hir aj go" brought him popularity throughout the region, but also in Italy , where this single was bought by Sony Records. Manjifiko is also the author of the winning song for EMA 2002 (Slovenian Eurovision song) "I can give you only love" sung by the transvestite group "Sisters".
Manjifiko also appeared in the films: "Stereotype", "Kajmak i marmelada", "Poker", "Porno film" and as a musician in the Serbian film "Montevideo, Bog te video!". He composed music for film and theater, and the last in the series is the music for the play "Radovan III", a co-production of JU Grad Theater and National Theater Sombor, directed by Vita Taufer, whose premiere is scheduled for August 15 on the stage between the churches in Budva's Old Town.
Manjifiko talks about his career and this project for "Vijesti"...
You said that you fell into applied music completely by accident. How exactly did that process go?
When I say by chance - it means I didn't plan, so things don't seem random to you. I was hired by people from the film industry, for the first time in Slovenia in the nineties, but I saw it as some kind of musical excess that just happened that way. I never thought that I could do applied music. I didn't find that passion or that I had enough musical knowledge to be able to satisfy someone's wishes. I seemed to be able to satisfy my desires, but I'm not sure about anyone else's. Basically, it turned out that in the end Bjela (Dragan Bjelogrlic) called for a movie and then I saw it as some kind of excess. However, it got longer, so now I work for both films and theaters, and I find that I often like it.
The album "Kafana Ljubljana" is a special edition with five songs made for the needs of the theater play Edip JDP. What was the biggest challenge in creating music for a theater play?
The biggest challenge for me was the very idea that the director should set a classic Greek tragedy in the setting of a tavern, in order to evoke a modern era. And what's the music like now? Of course it's some pub music, but what kind of pub music is it for Oedipus? Then I thought that those Greek tragedies were full of some noble pathos. They are very emotional in the sense of tragedy and this is something that the pub lyrics also have in them. And now the musical part, I like to play with folk songs and I like to arrange these folk motifs in my own way. Because of that, that musical part amused me the most, but it also scared me a little not to cut it, in the sense that I asked the director a little whether he thought it was okay for us Belgraders to sell the pub. However, that doubt melted away immediately after the first few rehearsals, we realized that everyone likes it and that it fits well in that show, and that the music is just right.
You composed the music for the play "Radovan III", the premiere of which we are eagerly awaiting, and you called it "nitro folk". What exactly does that mean? What can we expect at the premiere in Budva?
I called it "nitro folk" because I didn't know how to define what we made, and then it seemed to me for a moment that we were close to some turbo folk logic, but it wasn't either, so I called it "nitro folk" purely for some of our fun, since that music is colorful. It's not a label for all the music but for one part, two or three things sound, so I liked it and that's why I said that.
What do you find most interesting in the play, but also in the text "Radovan III"?
That play was the most exploited, thanks to the deceased Zoran Radmilović, and all theater directors have a slight deviation from that play since it was so impressive. And now the question is how to do something, without people missing Zoran. Then I liked the idea, that play is exactly according to the text that follows that original dramaturgy and that main character has become part of the play, he is not the whole play. Exactly as written. I think that logic is the best that the director could do, and we tried to follow the chaos that is inside that play with the music.
How much do you know about the Grad Theater festival itself, where the premiere of the play will take place?
I haven't been to Budva for a long time, and I've only been twice. I've never been to the festival, I only know how much I've heard and read about it, so I can hardly say what I think.
What memories do you have of Budva during those two stays?
I stayed in Budva when we were on a graduation trip. I could hardly tell you anything about it except that it was very intense and we were very young. Even the years that have passed and the intensity alone do not allow me to have full memory. Afterwards I was once more, s Rambo (Amadeus), we had a drink on the way.
Together with Aleksandar Pešuta, you composed music for the films "Vera", "Montevideo", "Chain Reaction". What is the difference between working on music for a play and music for a film?
The difference is in the director. The film has its own logic, maybe it's a little more complex than theater performances and requires perhaps quantitatively more notes to produce. Overall, it's very similar. First you have to satisfy the content that is placed on the table and understand what the director wants. If you also manage to kill your vanity a little, then you are on the right track.
How do you explain the fact that your music, which was not made specifically for the film, still ended up on the screen?
Yes, a lot of my music ended up on the movie screen and in commercials. Simply and obviously my music has that something in it that people like. When you put my music on a picture, you immediately get a dimension that, I often see, works on film. So I guess it's because the music was also in movies where people have no idea who I am, they just know the music, it's about some foreign productions. I don't know what I did to deserve it, maybe it's because when I'm working, I get into a movie, I imagine something in my head, a movie-like situation I could say. I don't shoot film, I make music, but I often think visually about music.
What is basic education in music today, if for you it was hits?
Music education is the same as in all branches. You have a classical education, which is great. I don't have that. I didn't manage to finish, and I didn't even set out to finish, but along the way, while I was working, through my career, I also improved my musical knowledge. If I were younger, I think I would, I'm sorry that I don't have that classical education, that I don't know notes, I don't know how to write them. I'm like a writer who can't read and can't write, he can only tell stories, and then he likes to write them. On the other hand, it makes me somehow different from others. Every falinka that a person has can be used for something creative, as well as ignorance of something, as is the case with my ignorance of classical music. That doesn't change, today we have more help with technology, but composing still remains the same. Again, you have to compose regardless of the fact that you have recorded drums and guitars. So what? You have a great dream, you have to compose, it's the same again. In the end, what you have made must evoke some emotion.
Your latest single and music video “Na obali” was released in a very unusual way. The song is repeated ninety-five times in the six-hour long video. Can you tell us how it came about and why?
Well, the reason is that it's summer and I'd like time to slow down. People don't have time to watch something that's 12 seconds long, let alone something that lasts six hours. It's absurd and completely nonsensical, but I liked the absurdity of it. I'm trying somehow to entice people to take time for themselves, whether it's six hours of listening to this music. The very invitation to watch and listen to anything for six hours is a big challenge in today's time when we function on 12 seconds.
What fine music is playing on the shore?
I have no idea, I like when something rhymes and often has no deeper meaning. Often I didn't mean anything deeper, it just sounds nice to me.
In autumn, you announced the tour "Poletna romance" and expressed your desire to organize a big concert in Belgrade. Is everything agreed? What are the expectations from the tour, can we expect you in Montenegro as well?
What I thought we were going to do got longer because of the films I was working on and now we are finishing the last film with Bjela. All that I announced will happen, but next year.
The biggest challenge for me was the very idea that the director should set a classic Greek tragedy in the setting of a tavern, in order to evoke a modern era. And what's the music like now? Of course it's some pub music, but what kind of pub music is it for Oedipus? Then I thought that those Greek tragedies were full of some noble pathos. They are very emotional in the sense of tragedy and this is something that the pub lyrics also have in them
The film has its own logic, maybe it's a little more complex than theater performances and requires perhaps quantitatively more notes to produce. Overall, it's very similar. First you have to satisfy the content that is placed on the table and understand what the director wants. If you also manage to kill your vanity a little, then you are on the right track
Bonus video:
